


Survival

by Vorta_Scholar



Series: Sito Jaxa Lived and Got Transferred to Voyager AU [2]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Depression, Friendship, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sito Jaxa Lived, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:14:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29101605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vorta_Scholar/pseuds/Vorta_Scholar
Summary: The first installation of my proposed AU where Sito Jaxa survived her mission into Cardassian space and was transferred to Voyager upon her return to the Enterprise.
Series: Sito Jaxa Lived and Got Transferred to Voyager AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2135256
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Survival

It was late. Later than anyone should have been calling. That’s why when Picard heard the summons over the comm link in his quarters, he could almost feel his heart sink into the pit of his stomach. He knew it could only mean one of two things: either Ensign Sito was back after several weeks of radio silence and the disappearance of her shuttle, or she had been killed.

_Or worse._

He swallowed hard before responding. “Yes, Picard here. Go ahead, Number One.”

“Captain, please report to sickbay,” came Commander Riker’s voice.

“Understood,” he said, and with a heavy sigh, he stood.

That walk to sickbay was one of the longest in all his years on the _Enterprise_. Longer than any on any other posting as well, he thought. He didn’t know what to expect when the doors slid open, allowing him to cross through, but it certainly wasn’t Ensign Sito sitting there, her hair shorn almost all the way to the roots and her clothes torn, parts of them burnt with phaser fire, staring straight through him as Dr. Crusher treated her wounds, both falsified and inflicted.

“Ensign,” he said, and she looked at him more deliberately, “I can’t tell you how good it is to see you.”

“I want a transfer,” she said, cutting right to the chase.

Her tone wasn’t forceful, but it also didn’t seem to ask for permission. She wanted this transfer, and if he didn’t give it to her, well. She was getting off his ship one way or another.

And he surely didn’t want another Ro Laren on his conscience.

“You have every right to such a request,” he said gently, “but first, I would like to hear your report, when you’re ready.”

“I’ll have it to you first thing tomorrow morning,” she said.

“Jaxa,” Dr. Crusher said gently, “I think it would be best for you to take some time to rest.”

“I can write a report,” Jaxa said. “It’s alright.”

“Ensign, you’ve been through a lot. Surely, you’ll want to rest…”

“I wish I could,” she said, smiling weakly, and unhappily. “But even the last few nights on DS9, and then on the shuttle ride here...I couldn’t. I can’t.”

Picard nodded somberly, understanding. He knew a thing or two about traumatic experiences. He understood how hard they were to shake off. He also understood how much she probably wanted off this ship, and that it was all his fault. Everything that had happened to her was his fault. It shouldn’t have been her. It should have been a senior officer. Anyone else but her, so young, and fresh out of the Academy. A Bajoran nose wasn’t really that hard to fake.

“I am so sorry, Ensign,” he said.

“Yeah,” was all she said, quiet and resigned, as her gaze fell vacant once more. “Don’t worry, Captain. I’ll get the report to you first thing in the morning.”

Dr. Crusher finished erasing the last bit of the bruising on her jaw and shut off the regenerator. Then she pulled the sheet back and helped the young ensign lie back.

“Just try to get some rest until we can get you a PADD,” Beverly said. “You did a very brave thing, and it’s over now.”

“That’s what the guy at DS9 said.”

“I know,” Beverly whispered, rubbing Jaxa’s arm gently.

She didn’t know what else to say. Seeing Jaxa being brought into sickbay had caused a knot to form in her throat that still hadn’t cleared. All she could think was that this girl was Wesley’s age, that she had been at the Academy with her son, graduated at the same time he would have, and yet at such a young age she had just experienced such horrors as Bev could only imagine. She was alive, of course, but that was only so much of a consolation.

With a nod, Beverly led the Captain into her office. She gestured for him to sit, and slowly, he did.

“I know this probably goes without saying, but I think she needs to talk to Counselor Troi,” Beverly said.

“Agreed,” Picard said with an uneasy sort of nod.

“And I would recommend a bit of shore leave and a therapy regimen prior to the start of her next assignment,” Beverly said, making a few notes on a PADD.

“Do you think she’ll be alright?” Picard asked.

“Eventually,” Beverly said, nodding. “Maybe,” she added with a heavy sigh. “I hope so. What you saw was the tail end of the job I had handed to me. Apparently Dr. Bashir at DS9 already did a lot of preliminary healing and cleaning up before they even sent her to us. I can’t imagine the state she was in when the Federation finally got her back. And that’s just the outside. There’s no telling what state her mind is in.”

Picard looked down at his hands. “I’m responsible for this,” he said.

“You shouldn’t beat yourself up. You didn’t know this would happen.”

“I knew damn well that it was a possibility. I knew she could have been captured, tortured, beaten, killed, or worse. And I sent her anyway. And now we’re both going to have to live with that.”

Beverly said nothing, but continued making notes on her PADD, which only made Picard feel worse. A young ensign, barely six months out of the Academy, already a victim of war and occupation before he even got ahold of her, was lying broken in a biobed and here he was pitying himself.

He sighed. “I trust you to make the necessary arrangements,” he said, and he stood.

“Jean-Luc,” Beverly said, stopping him in his tracks. “You have the power to deny her request. You could keep her here if you wanted to or think it necessary. And it may seem like it’s your duty to do so. To keep her under your protection. It may even seem like it would be in her best interest to remain on the flagship of the Federation. But if you ask my professional opinion, and my medical advice…”

“Yes?”

“ _Don’t_ ,” she said. “If she wants to go, let her. It may be the best thing for her.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” he said softly. “I will take that into consideration.”

Beverly nodded. “I’ll see you later.”

“Good night,” he said.

“Night.”

* * *

**_Six Months Later_ **

Being on DS9 again, even after six months of rest and relaxation on her home planet, and six months of therapy and meditation, made Sito Jaxa feel somewhat ill.

It was two days before her new assignment, a six-week mission on a ship called _Voyager_ , which Captain Picard had recommended as a means of easing her back into “the flow of things.” What it really was was an easy job for her fragile little heart. She knew that well enough.

“Are you going to eat your lunch?”

Across the table, Vorik pointed to her plate of untouched hasperat.

“Do you want it?” she asked.

“Is there any reason you’re avoiding it?”

“No, I’m just not very hungry is all. If you want it, you can have it.”

With an expression which must have been the Vulcan equivalent of a smile, he accepted the plate as she slid it across the table toward him. She laughed quietly to herself when she saw the split-second look of surprise on his face as he realized just how pungent it was.

It was nice to have him around, she thought; at least there would be one familiar face with her, just as it had been nice to have Taurik with her on the _Enterprise_ so soon after their graduation. It might make the transition back into Starfleet duties easier. She hoped that it would, anyway.

“Uh, Ensigns Vorik and Jaxa?” a voice asked, and they looked up to see a young Starfleet officer about their age standing beside their table.

“Ensign Sito,” she said, smiling politely and accepting his handshake. “You can call me Jaxa, though. That’s my given name.”

“Oh, right, you’re Bajoran,” he said quietly, more than likely just thinking out loud.

She wrinkled her nose, exaggerating the lines which were already there. “What gave it away?” she asked.

He laughed somewhat nervously at her joke before offering his hand to Vorik, who looked at it for a long moment, then up at his face, one eyebrow quirked.

“Sorry,” the other ensign said, retracting his hand. “Kim. Harry Kim.”

“The operations officer on the _Voyager_ mission,” Vorik said.

Harry smiled. “That’s right.”

Vorik nodded in polite approval.

“Nice to meet you,” Jaxa said.

“You as well,” Harry said, then turned to Vorik. “And you, too.”

"And you, Ensign," Vorik said, and went back to eating his hasperat.

“Well, uh,” Harry said. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around.”

“See you around,” Jaxa said.

“See you around,” Vorik repeated.

Harry departed, leaving Jaxa to go back to looking at the food on the plate between her and Vorik.

“Have you changed your mind?” Vorik asked.

“Hm?” she intoned, confused.

“About the food,” he said. “Would you like the rest?”

“Oh,” she said. “No, I’m fine. It’s all yours.”

“Suit yourself,” he said, and continued eating.

* * *

The next couple of days blurred together. There was a lot of monotony, and Jaxa thought she should be thankful for that. The most exciting thing, perhaps, was going down to the replimat for lunch with Harry and meeting his friend Tom, and seeing the young Starfleet doctor who had treated her out to lunch as well, with a Cardassian, and it wasn’t a good kind of excitement. It made her stomach hurt and her head feel funny.

But things were different here on Deep Space Nine, she reminded herself. Borders and relations weren’t quite as black and white.

Nevertheless, she excused herself, saying she wasn’t feeling well and that maybe she needed to take a walk.

“What’s her deal?” she heard Tom ask in a not-so-hushed tone.

“I don’t know," Harry said, a little quieter than his friend. "She won’t say but I heard her last assignment before this one wasn’t so hot.”

“She was on the _Enterprise_ , Harry! It’s practically cruise liner. What about that could have been so bad?”

“I don’t know. But it’s none of our business…”

“Ensign Sito,” a voice said, and she looked up to see that she had almost run straight into the woman coming in as she was heading out.

A woman in a command uniform, with four pips on her collar.

The captain.

“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t see you there,” she said.

“Quite alright, Ensign,” the captain smiled. “It’s nice to meet you. I heard about your mission in Cardassian space. I was impressed by your report, and I look forward to having you as part of my crew.”

She felt a bit sick, but even so, she smiled, glad to know that Captain Janeway thought so well of her, and knew who she was at all for that matter. It was an odd and uncomfortable sort of feeling, the mixture of two completely opposite emotions.

“Thank you, sir,” she said.

“No _sirs_ ,” Janeway said. “Just _Captain_ is fine.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Jaxa said, and Janeway smiled.

“I’ll see you later, Ensign.”

“Alright,” Jaxa nodded, and took that as her dismissal.


End file.
